Call me Venerated Teacher because you just got two-upped!

In case you have been living under a rock, Rise of the Eldrazi is the current set out, and it is awesome! While at first I was not a huge fan of Annihialator (and it's still iffy), there is one mechanic that I am a huge fan of! That is the level up mechanic. Basically what it means is that you can play a small dude and progressively put mana into him (sorcery speed) and soon they become an epic game-ending behemoth. For example, here is a mythic rare leveler called Kargan Dragonlord (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193482).

It starts out as a 2/2 for RR, which is perfectly fine by itself. It's not spectacular, but it's a nice low drop that fits in the curve. However, after putting 4 mana into it over the course of a couple turns (while playing other spells to maintain tempo) you have a 4/4 flyer. This is a lot more powerful, yet at the same time it fits for that point in the game. A 4/4 flyer that has been around since magic started is Air Elemental, a 4/4 flyer for 3UU. Right when your opponent can lay this card down, your Dragonlord matches its size and abilities. As early as the next turn you could get that 4/4 dude to his ultimate level as an 8/8 flying trampling firebreathing slap in the face.

When levelers were first announced, people didn't like them because you could sink a lot of mana into them, only have it killed by a Doom Blade or something. However, I think quite the opposite of levers. I think they are great because they provide card advantage, not mana disadvantage. Consider this mock start to a game:

Turn 1: Good - Mountain; Evil - Plains
Turn 2: Good - Mountain, Kargan Dragonlord; Evil - Island, Glory Seeker
Turn 3: Good - Mountain, Level Karan Dragonlord up 3x (level 3); Evil - Island
Turn 4: Good - Mountain, Level Kargan Dragonlord up 4x (level 7), Attack for 4 (20 - 16); Evil - Plains
Turn 5: Good - Mountain, Level Kargan Dragonlord up 1x (level 8), Attck for 8, use firebreathing to push 4 more damage in (20 - 4); Evil - Island, Air Elemental

Yes, I know it would embarrasing for this to happen, and it probably never will because there are so many other factors and card that would get played. But take a look at the card advantage. Aside from lands, Good used 1 card and has completely taken over the game from beginning to end. Evil has played 2 vanilla cards and is so far behind he has no hope of coming back. Even if he were to Narcolepsy the Dragonlord, he would be down 16 life and have spent 3 cards to Good's 1. If good is playing mono-red, it is very likely he could just play Lightning Bolt and Burst Lightning and end the game on the spot.

So levelers are awesome by themself, but an army of levelers is even cooler! An amazing card that helps an army of levelers is Venerated Teacher. A 2/2 for 2U is fine in limited, but with his ETB ability he is nuts. WHen he enters the battlefield, all creatures with level up get 2 level counters on them. Obviously this is nuts with 4 or 5 levelers in play, but even with 1 the teacher is amazing. Let's say you have Zulaport Enforcer in play and no other creatures. By playing a Venerated Teacher, you are putting 8 mana worth of level counters on a guy AND getting a 2/2 for blocking purposes. Even with a card like Transcendant Master, whose level up cost is 1, you are spending 3 mana for put 2 mana worth of level counters on the Master and getting a 2/2. You are effectively getting a 2/2 for U. A quick gatherer search shows that all creatures with power and toughness both greater than 2 for 1 mana all have disadvantages, whether it is paying life, not being able to attack or block, or having to sacrifice it or other creatures. The only 2 cards that don't have that disadvantage are Goblin Guide and Isamaru, Hound of Konda. However, thay are both rares and cost $7 and $4 respectively. Venerated Teacher is a common, and you can get a playset for a buck.

Because Venerated Teacher is blue, any deck that seriously wants to consider playing a level up deck is essentially required to play blue. I decided to design a UB Level Up deck that would be all about speed. Here is the decklist I ended up with: http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Decks/ViewDeck.aspx?ID=92751

The deck is all level up creatures besides 3 spells: Spreading Seas, Doom Blade, and Ponder.

Spreading Seas - Mana skrew your opponent while maintaining card advantage and giving you Halimar Wavewatch some islands to walk on
Doom Blade - Great  all-around removal spell just in case something gets in the way
Ponder - This card is basically required for any deck playing blue. It allows you to set up your next couple turns or at least get rid of them for better things, and replaces itself

The other thing that is great about this deck is its low cost. After removing the lands, the entire deck costs $20. $12 of that $20 comes from the Guul Draz Assassin, which was the buy-a-box promo card for ROE.

Quick Aside:
The buy-a-box promo cards the past year have been:


M10: Honor of the Pure (Used heavily in the White Weenies deck that was big a couple months ago)
Zendikar: Day of Judgement (Used a lot in the UW control deck)
Worldwake: Celestial Connelaide (Used a lot in UW control)
Rise of the Eldrazi: Guul Draz Assassin
M11: Birds of Paradise (Has been around since magic started, and has always been frequently used)

All of the buy-a-box promos have appeared in tournaments, and the Assassin is sick, so expect to see him sometime soon.

End Quick Aside


Everything else is a common except for the Hada Spy Patrol which is uncommon. So I built the deck and played it against Nick. After a couple games, I found that Venerated Teacher is epic, just like I thought he would be, but also that Guul Draz Assassin is absolutely nuts! In one game I had all 4 in play together and no matter what Nick played it quickly died.

Also, I discovered that once they are fully leveled up, the levelers all have some sort of evasion. Null Champion has regenerate which is pseudo evasion because your opponent knows that blocking will not help their board position and will instead just be sacrificing creatures to save life. The Assassin doesn't have evasion either, but you never need to attack with him, you just kill everything. Because of their evasion, I found Doom Blade to be a dead draw more often than not. However, removal is still important, so I cut 2 Doom Blades for an island and swamp.

If you are looking for a cheap, powerful deck, I recommend playing UB levelers. No one is expecting it, and it is simply fun. I'm tapped out for now, but will untap later. peace